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Ragwort in flower beds

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  • 08-08-2016 12:29pm
    #1
    countrywoman
    Registered Users Posts: 276 ✭✭


    We have a number of very large flower beds. This year they have been next to impossible to keep weed free.

    There has been an invasion of the weed Ragwort this year. It must have blown in from the field's bordering our house

    It seems impossible to eradicate. I pull it as soon as it appears but then it appears again. Millions (maybe slight exaggeration) of tiny seedlings consistently appear

    I cannot spray the area as there are plants in the beds

    Has anyone any advice?

    I would love to put down weed barrier and decorative stone, but the area is so big that funds wont allow


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    #2
    lottpaul
    Registered Users Posts: 1,164 ✭✭✭lottpaul


    Am afraid that if you live beside a field with ragwort you will always have it :(
    Unless it's eradicated at the source you will always have seedlings that seem to sprout and grow overnight - and if your neighbour isn't willing to mow/spray then there's not a lot you can do.
    The only option is to pull, spray or put down a mulch/barrier. From what you said pulling seems your main choice. It's a pain but usually they are easy enough to pull up - horrible smell though!


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    #3
    GrumpyMe
    Registered Users Posts: 1,195 ✭✭✭GrumpyMe


    You could become a grass...


    http://tinyurl.com/hwjl5h4

    Under the 1936 Noxious Weeds Act, failure to prevent the spread of poisonous plants like ragwort is an offence. Any owner, occupier, user or manager of lands who allows the plant to grow can face a fine of up to €1000 on conviction.


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    #4
    countrywoman
    Registered Users Posts: 276 ✭✭countrywoman


    Thanks for the replies
    i have spoken to the farmer and he agreed to take measures to get rid of it

    never knew there was such a thing as the 'Noxious Weeds Act'!!


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    #5
    Tefral
    Registered Users Posts: 4,356 ✭✭✭Tefral


    countrywoman wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies
    i have spoken to the farmer and he agreed to take measures to get rid of it

    never knew there was such a thing as the 'Noxious Weeds Act'!!

    Better for himself anyway.. its bad news for cows and horses. Its even bad news for humans.


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    #6
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,935 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    It's habitat for a few butterflies though, keep an eye on a couple of plants and they'll be crawling with caterpillars soon if it's any consolation...


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    #7
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,451 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    There has been a plague of ragwort this year, I doubt the butterflies will starve!


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    #8
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,935 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Yeah I notice that whenever I go down to Galway recently, some fields look like its a crop, completely overgrown, field after field aswell not just the odd one like in other years.


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    #9
    SILVAMAN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 730 ✭✭✭SILVAMAN


    looksee wrote: »
    There has been a plague of ragwort this year, I doubt the butterflies will starve!
    but it is the main food source for the cinnabar moth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar_moth


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    #10
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,451 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    SILVAMAN wrote: »
    but it is the main food source for the cinnabar moth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnabar_moth

    The point I am making is that even if you dig up every bit of ragwort in your garden, there is so much that none of the insects that depend on it will be affected.


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